Rose rocks are aggregates of barite

Barite

Baryte, or barite, is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate. The baryte group consists of baryte, celestine, anglesite and anhydrite. Baryte itself is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of barium...

 (barium sulfate) crystal

Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...

s and sand

Sand

Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

 whose iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 content gives them a reddish hue. The barite crystals form a circular array of flat plates, giving the rock a shape similar to a rose

Rose

A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...

 blossom. Rose rocks appear either as a single rose-like bloom or as clusters of blooms, with sizes ranging from pea

Pea

A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...

 sized to four inches (20 cm) in diameter. The rose rock was selected as the official state rock of Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

 in 1968.

Location

Rose rocks are most common in and near central Oklahoma, and can be found in mineral deposits in the Wichita

Wichita Mountains

The Wichita Mountains are located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The mountains are a northwest-southeast trending series of rocky promontories, many capped by 540 million-year old granite. These were exposed and rounded by weathering during the Permian Period...

 and Ouachita Mountains

Ouachita Mountains

The Ouachita Mountains are a mountain range in west central Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. The range's subterranean roots may extend as far as central Texas, or beyond it to the current location of the Marathon Uplift. Along with the Ozark Mountains, the Ouachita Mountains form the U.S...

. Rose rocks are most common in the Noble

Noble, Oklahoma

Noble is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. The population was 6,481 at the 2010 census. Currently, Noble is Cleveland County's third-largest city behind Norman and Moore. The current mayor is Gary Hayes...

 area of Cleveland County

Cleveland County, Oklahoma

Cleveland County is a county in the central part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 255,755 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Norman. Cleveland County is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

. Barite rose rocks have also been found in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

 and Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. and Wadi Rum in Jordan.

Formation

Oklahoma rose stone was formed during the Permian

Permian

The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...

 Period, 250 million years ago, when western and central Oklahoma was covered by a shallow sea. As the sea retreated, barite precipitated out of the water and crystallized around grains of quartz sand. This left behind large formation of reddish sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

, locally called Garber Sandstone, containing deposits of rose rock.

Size

The average size of rose rocks are anywhere from half an inch to 4 inches in diameter. The largest recorded by the Oklahoma Geological Survey was 17 inches across and 10 inches high, weighing 125 pounds. They have also discovered rose rock clusters that are up to 39 inches tall and weighing more than 1,000 pounds.

See also

• List of U.S. state minerals, rocks, stones and gemstones
• Selenite (mineral), which also forms rose-shaped stones, called the desert rose
  Desert rose (crystal)
  thumb|right|250px|Saharan desert rose, 47 cm long.Desert rose is the colloquial name given to rosette formations of the minerals gypsum and barite with poikilotopic sand inclusions...
  
  .

External links

• Timberlake Rose Rock Museum in Noble, Oklahoma
  Noble, Oklahoma
  Noble is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. The population was 6,481 at the 2010 census. Currently, Noble is Cleveland County's third-largest city behind Norman and Moore. The current mayor is Gary Hayes...